Monday, March 3, 2014

No Heating and No hot water? Fantastic.

Hello Friends and Family-
 
What a week we have had! It started off perfect and then got a little interesting. Last tuesday me and my companion wake up just like any normal day. Im laying on the kitchen floor trying to stay awake and my companion goes in to get in the shower and all of a sudden I hear her scream and start freaking out and she yells "there is NO hot water." And im thinking youve got to be kidding me! And here in Europe I swear the water is colder here. Its like a cold that when you are under it too long you literally get a headache and feel like a giant ice cube. And then we discovered there was no heating as well throughout the whole apartment. So we got to take cold showers for about two days until they came out and fixed it. Our house is just SO old. At least like 25 years and it was an elders apartment way before it was a zusters and lets just say...we find little treasures daily. It was a nice beginning to our week! :)
 
This past weekend here in Apeldoorn we had Stake Conference. If you were looking at a map you would see the city of Arnhem and its basically that and everything north-east of it. So its a big area! President and Zuster Robinson came and spoke Sunday night and all of the missionaries in the Stake came and sang "Called to Serve" in the Saturday night session. Its funny because with every stake conference you have in a foreign speaking mission you get more and more out of it with every single one because you understand more. Haha I understood everything that was being said this time and it was AMAZING! I decided that Dutch has almost become my "spiritual language" you could say. I plan on doing all my gospel studies and reading and even watching T.V. in Dutch after my mission. I still have plenty to learn and can always improve though so we will see!
 
We had kind of a weird week with our investigators. One of them had an uncle die in their family and so he was really sad and had lots of things to do to prepare for everything so we didnt see him nearly as much. And the same thing also happened to Guvendi our other investigator. So it was kind of weird! We are hoping to get everything back to normal this week! We had a super cool miracle this week. We went door knocking last tuesday night and randomly decided to do some apartment bell-ups (which are usually my least favorite thing to do). We start talking to this guy who makes absolutley no sense but we got out of it that he was in the middle of bible study and wants us to bring a Book of Mormon by that same weekend. So we go back Friday afternoon and no one was home. So then the next day, Saturday, we were in the neighborhood again and decided to try one more time. He ends up being home and lets us in for some tea and cookies. (Thats another thing...I am addicted to tea now. They drink it over here ALOT more than they do in America and its my new favorite thing). We go in and get to know him and his wife, end up teaching them the Restoration and he said that they would come to church the next day!! two new investigators! What a beautiful day in the neighborhood! So we have another appointment this week and hopefully things go very nicely :) We have lots of appointments and potentials to follow up with this week and we are just really trying to keep our finding pool high and also our potential pool to keep ourselves busy and get up to teaching at least 14 lessons a week, if not more. I had a really cool experience personally this past week as well. I have always loved the people here and the place I am in, but we were driving home with a member in their car and the hymn "Praise to the Man" came on and I just felt the spirit SO strong. These people have literally become my family and I love them SO much. Every single one, not just the members, but every person I even see on the street. And Beligum and The Netherlands has become my second home and sacred ground. Its so cool how the experience of a mission will do that to you. Because I always heard Return Missionaries say that but you dont really understand it until you are actually the one experiencing it. I know without a doubt that this gospel is true. I can see it in the eyes of members, investigators, and even people I talk to on the street every single day. The happiness you can receive and see through the gospel is absolutely incredible. Im so grateful I get to be here half way across the world speaking a foreign language of these people and become part of their lives and also a part of mine. Missionary work is the most amazing experience in the world and its the best decision I have ever made. I love you all and miss you dearly! Thank you for the prayers and support!
 
Love, Zuster Brophy

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